TEMPLE EMANUEL RABBI LEON M. ADLER DIES

An obituary yesterday about Marjorie Gosnel Gabbert gave an incorrect last name for one of her sons. He is J. Stephen Gabbert of Alexandria. (Published 3/1/88)

February 29, 1988

Leon M. Adler, 66, who had been the rabbi of Temple Emanuel in Kensington since 1953 and who had been active in Jewish, education, community and civic groups for more than 30 years, died of an aneurysm Feb. 27 at Suburban Hospital. He lived in Chevy Chase.

Rabbi Adler had served as vice president of the Washington Board of Rabbis and had belonged to the Central Conference of American Rabbis.

In the early 1970s, he was Washington representative of the Synagogue Council of America.

He had been a member of the executive board of the United Jewish Appeal of Greater Washington, where he also chaired committees dealing with planning and Jewish education.

In 1956 and 1957, he had chaired the United Jewish Appeal campaigns in Montgomery County.

Rabbi Adler had been a member of the national council of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and of the board of directors of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs. He had served on the executive and program committees of the World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors.

Between 1959 and 1973, he taught courses in Judaic studies at Howard University.

He had served on groups advising the U.S. Civil Rights Commission and the Montgomery County public schools, and had served on the board of a Montgomery County fair housing organization.

He also had been a member of the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington's community relations committee.

Rabbi Adler, who moved to this area in 1953, was a native of New York City. He was a cum laude graduate of the City College of New York.

In 1945, he was ordained at what is now the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City, where he also received a master's degree in Hebrew letters.

He was an Army chaplain in the Far East and Austria from 1945 to 1948. During the next two years, he was an assistant to the Israeli consul general in New York City and worked in Israel for that country's trade and industry ministry. He then spent three years as rabbi of a temple on Long Island before moving to this area.

His marriage, to the former Charlotte Gordon, ended in divorce.

Survivors include two sons, Joe, of Boston, and Avi, of Chevy Chase; a daughter, Adena Adler of Philadelphia, and a sister, Betty Rosenstock of New York City.

ARTHUR A. ADLER

Men's Clothier

Arthur A. Adler, 81, the board chairman of the Arthur A. Adler stores who had been a Washington men's clothier since moving here in 1942, died Feb. 28 at his home in Washington after a heart attack.

There are two Adler stores, one at 1100 Connecticut Ave. NW in Washington and another in Chevy Chase. Before moving to his new and expanded Connecticut Avenue store in the late 1970s, he had operated for many years from 822 15th St. NW.

Mr. Adler, a native of New Haven, Conn., teamed with Donald Kneessi shortly after arriving in this city. He bought his partner out in the 1950s, and had run his own business since then. Over the years, he probably became best known as the pioneer of the "Ivy League" look in men's clothing in Washington.

He also gained a reputation as a merchant who emphasized personal customer attention, including special orders from abroad, for a remarkably loyal following. He also believed in the personal touch.

Shortly after moving to his new store in 1978, he told a Washington Post reporter, "I'm kind of like a floorwalker." He continued, "At most stores, people who run the place stay in their office, but I insist that the people here see an Adler."

He said he made it a habit to walk the floors of his new store at least once each weekday, and did the same at his suburban store on Saturdays.

Mr. Adler was a past treasurer and director of the Menswear Retailers of America and a past director of Park and Shop Inc. in Washington. He had served on President Carter's Council for Small Business Legislation and had been active in charitable work. He was an honorary life member of the Washington Hebrew Congregation's Brotherhood and a member of the Woodmont Country Club.

His marriage to Corinne S. Adler ended in divorce.

Survivors include two sons, John B., of Potomac, and Arthur Jr., of Bethesda, and five grandchildren.

FRANCES BARNSTEAD

Bond Examiner

Frances Barnstead, 81, a Washington native and a retired bond examiner with the Treasury Department, died Feb. 23 at a hospital in Brandon, Fla., after a stroke. She lived in Sun City, Fla.

Mrs. Barnstead graduated from Business High School. She joined the Treasury Department in 1918 and retired about 1946. She moved to Florida in 1968.

She had been a member of Takoma Baptist Church.

Survivors include her husband, Harold L. Barnstead of Sun City; one daughter, Mary Frances Noone of Valrico, Fla., and three grandchildren.

GEORGE C. DEUTSCH

NASA Research Director

George C. Deutsch, 67, a retired director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's research and technology division, died Feb. 27 at George Washington University Hospital. He had cancer.

He began his aeronautics career in 1947 as a research metalurgist at the government's Lewis Research Center in Cleveland.

Lewis, now part of NASA, was then operated by one of the space administration's predecessor agencies.

Mr. Deutsch worked in Cleveland until transferring to Washington in 1960.

He was a research scientist and an administrator. He was a 1970 recipient of a high award from the American Society of Metals when he was NASA's assistant director of research for materials science and engineering. In 1976, he was promoted to division director and held that post until retiring in 1981.

Mr. Deutsch also served on a NATO advisory group for aerospace research and development. He was the recipient of NASA's medals for exceptional service, outstanding leadership and distinguished service.

He was an authority on high-temperature materials in aerospace research and in the use of ceramets, ceramic and metal combinations. His research had contributed to advances in the space shuttle heat tiles, jet engines, the Saturn launch vehicle and the Apollo capsule.

Mr. Deutsch was born in Budapest and came to the United States in 1924. He settled in Cleveland, where he graduated with a degree in metalurgy from what is now Case Western Reserve University. He served with the Navy in the Aleutian Islands during World War II.

Survivors include his wife, Ruth, of Bethesda; two sons, Harvey, of Bakersfield, Calif., and Fred, of Bethesda; a daughter, Marilyn Deutsch of Portland, Ore., and a grandchild.

MARJORIE GOSNELL GABBERT

Area Resident Since 1956

Marjorie Gosnell Gabbert, 77, a California native who had lived in the Washington area since 1956, died Feb. 23 of cardiac arrest at the Fernwood House nursing home in Bethesda. She lived in Washington.

Mrs. Gabbert was born in Ventura, Calif. She attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Before moving to the Washington area, she lived for 15 years in Latin America, where her husband, Howard M. Gabbert, was employed by the Institute of InterAmerican Affairs and the U.S. Technical Cooperation Administration.

In addition to her husband, of Washington, survivors include three sons, retired Army Col. Howard M. Gabbert II of Lloyd Harbor, N.Y., James J. Gabbert of San Francisco, and J. Stephen Howard of Alexandria, and six grandchildren.

THE REV. HENRY HAMPTON SINK

AME Zion Church Official

The Rev. Henry Hampton Sink, 93, a retired presiding elder with the AME Zion Church and a former pastor of Lomax AME Zion Church in Arlington, died Feb. 24 of congestive heart failure at Arlington Hospital. He lived in Alexandria.

Mr. Sink joined the ministry in 1932 and became pastor of St. Paul's AME Zion Church in Cleveland.

He also pastored churches in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida before moving to the Washington area in 1955 to become pastor of Lomax.

In 1960 he was promoted to presiding elder of the Washington district of the Philadelphia-Baltimore Conference of the AME Zion Church. He retired in that position in 1978.

Mr. Sink was born in Winston-Salem, N.C. He graduated from Storer College in West Virginia. During World War I, he served in the Navy. He was awarded an honorary doctorate of divinity by Livingstone College in North Carolina in 1962.

His wife, Mayme W. Sink, died in 1987. He leaves no immediate survivors.

CLAUDE WHITE

Horse Groom

Claude White, 71, who had been a groom at Meadowbrook Stable in Chevy Chase since 1952, died Feb. 25 at Suburban Hospital. He had a heart ailment.

Mr. White, who lived in Chevy Chase, was born in Murfreesboro, N.C. He moved here after serving in the Army from 1940 to 1948.

Survivors include a brother, Henry, of Washington, and five sisters, Anna Harris of Hampton, Va., Eunice Knight and Maggie Powers, both of Richmond, and Helen Noman and Marie Hall, both of Portsmouth, Va.

BENNETT SMITH COPPING

Retired Navy Rear Admiral

Bennett Smith Copping, 83, a retired Navy rear admiral who later was an engineering consultant with the Vitro Corp., died of pneumonia Feb. 26 at Arlington Hospital. He lived in McLean.

Adm. Copping was born in Antlers, Okla. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1925. He had assignments aboard submarines during the 1930s.

During World War II, he served in Europe, Africa and the Middle East and commanded several destroyers and a destroyer division.

He was transferred to the Washington area in 1948 and assigned to the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.

During the early 1950s, he was a senior naval adviser to the Argentine Naval War College. He retired from active duty in 1956.

He worked for the Vitro Corp. in Silver Spring during the late 1950s.

His military decorations include the Bronze Star Medal.

His wife, Charlotte Marie Brazee Copping, died in 1967. Survivors include one daughter, Marion Lisehora of Millsboro, Del.; five grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

ALVA C. PEPPER

Retired Real Estate Broker

Alva C. Pepper, 71, a retired real estate broker who owned and operated the old Pepper Real Estate concern in Silver Spring from the early 1950s to 1979, died of cardiac arrest Feb. 25 at Montgomery General Hospital. He lived in Silver Spring.

Mr. Pepper was born in Washington and was a 1936 graduate of Eastern High School.

He then played shortstop with the Chicago White Sox baseball organization in Wilmington, Del.

From the 1940s to early 1950s, he was a salesman with C&P Telephone and worked for a Washington advertising agency.

He was a member of St. Peter's Catholic Church in Olney.

His wife, Ernestine, died in 1986. Survivors include three sons, Alva E., of Laurel, Patric L., of Washington, and Perry J., of Damascus, Md.; a sister, Lena Thomas of Cheverly, and seven grandchildren.

ALDO D'ALESSANDRO

USIA Official

Aldo D'Alessandro, 76, a government information official for 37 years before retiring in 1979 as an assistant to the director of the U.S. Information Agency, died of leukemia Feb. 23 at Suburban Hospital. He lived in Bethesda.

Mr. D'Alessandro attended Bucknell University, studied opera in New York City and Milan, then was a commerical radio director, producer and announcer in his native New York City before joining the government in 1942.

For the next two years, he was a radio producer with the old Office of War Information.

In 1944, he joined the Voice of America, where he became chief of the French and Italian services and deputy director of the radio branch. In 1952, he began a five-year tour as head of the VOA's Munich radio center.

In 1958 to 1962, he served in Brazil as USIA public affairs officer and embassy counselor.

He then spent four years at Fort Bragg, N.C., as an adviser to the Army's special warfare center and school.

From 1966 to 1969, he served in Vietnam, where he became an adviser to the South Vietnamese information ministry and an assistant director of the Joint U.S. Public Affairs Organization.

From 1969 to 1971, Mr. D'Alessandro was an information officer and embassy counselor in what is now Zaire.

In 1971, he became an assistant to the USIA director.

Survivors include his wife, Louise, of Bethesda; a daughter, Nancy D'Alessandro of Princeton, N.J.; four sons, Carl, of Bethesda, Richard, of San Francisco, Robert, of Fayetteville, N.C., and Edward, of Derwood, Md., and five grandchildren.

HUGH P. (BINGO) FLYNN

Area Insurance Broker

Hugh P. (Bingo) Flynn, 79, an insurance broker here with the John Hancock insurance company for the past 37 years, died Feb. 27 at his home in Chevy Chase. He had cancer.

He had served on the membership committee and had been a dinner chairman of the Greater Washington Board of Trade. He also had served on an Eisenhower presidential inaugural committee.

Mr. Flynn was a native of Worcester, Mass., and moved here in 1929. He began working in the insurance business here following after his graduation from Catholic University.

At Catholic, he lettered in four sports and was inducted into the school's hall of fame. He was active in alumni groups.

A member of the Washington Touchdown Club since 1935, he was its president in 1947.

He had been active in the Catholic Youth Organization and had served as an administrator with the Merrick Boys' Camp near Indian Head, Md. He was an honorary member of the John Carroll Society and Knights of Columbus.

Survivors include his wife, Ella, of Chevy Chase; three daughters, Virginia L. Boggs of Litchfield Beach, S.C., Mary E. McDuffie of Kensington, and Jeanne F. Mitchell of Winter Park, Fla.; three sons, David J., of Chevy Chase, Dennis J., of Troy, Mich., and John T., of Bethesda; two sisters, Margaret Connolly of Cape Cod, Mass., and Kathleen Sweeney of Shrewsbury, Mass.; 19 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

MALCOLM HUGH NELSEN

Railroad Fireman and Union Official

Malcolm Hugh Nelsen, 74, a retired railroad fireman and union official who was active in Masonic organizations, died Feb. 28 at Southern Maryland Hospital. He had heart and kidney ailments.

He worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad here for 37 years before retiring in 1978.

He had helped organize the United Transportation Union and was a past president of its Potomac Lodge No. 7 in Washington. He also had been a union regional vice president and general chairman.

Mr. Nelsen, who lived in Temple Hills, was a native of Iowa. He worked briefly in The Washington Post circulation department in the 1930s, then spent two years in Pennsylvania before returning to Washington in 1941.

A 32nd degree Mason, he was a member of Federal Masonic Lodge No. 1 in Washington, and the Tall Cedars of Lebanon. He also was a member of the Maryland Yacht Club.

Survivors include his wife of 44 years, the former Helen Murphy, of Temple Hills; a daughter, Betty Shirley of Bowie; a stepson, Charles Beshore of Harrisburg, Pa.; a sister, Marguerite Kaigh of Bakersfield, Calif.; six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.